General Awareness Updates - May 2015 (Sports)

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Sports

Sania Mirza creates history, becomes World No. 1
Sania Mirza created history by achieving the feat of becoming world No.1 in WTA tennis rankings. She is the first woman tennis player from India to do so after winning the Family Circle Cup final partnering with Martina Hingis. Sania took 470 points from the win to take her tally to 7965 as she jumped past Italy’s Sara Errani (7640) and Roberta Vinci (7640) to sit atop the ranking table.   
Before Sania, only Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had achieved the top rank when they dominated men’s doubles circuit in the late 90s.
For the record, she has won the following:
*          Three mixed doubles Grand Slam titles: 2009 Australian Open, 2012 French Open, and 2014 U.S. Open;
*          Winner of 2014 WTA Finals
*          14 medals, including six Gold medals at various tourneys like Afro-Asian Games, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games.

BADMINTON
2015 Swiss Open, Basel
Men’s
Winner: Srikanth Kidambi (India)
Runner-up: Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)
Men’s Doubles
Winners: Cai Yun/Lu Kai (China)
Runners-up: Goh V. Shem/Tan Wee Kiong (Malaysia)
Women’s
Winner: Sun Yu (China)
Runner-up: Busanan Ongbumrungpam (Thailand)
Women’s Doubles
Winners: Bao Yixin/Tang Yuanting (China)
Runners-up: Ayane Kurihara/Naru Shiyona (Japan)
Mixed Doubles
Winners: Lu Kai/Huang Yagiong (China)
Runners-up: Bao Yixin/Liu Cheng (China)

HOCKEY
Putting up a dominating show, India scored in three of the four quarters to outplay Poland 3-1 in the final and clinch the FIH World Hockey League Round 2 at Major Dhyan Chan stadium in New Delhi.
In the placings matches, Malaysia overpowered Thailand 3-0 to seal third place, Russia thrashed Kazakhstan 9-0 to secure fifth spot and Ghana outwitted Singapore 2-1 to avoid the wooden spoon. 

TENNIS
Miami Open, Miami
Men’s
Winner: Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Runner-up: Andy Murray (Great Britain)
Women’s
Winner: Serena Williams (U.S.)
Runner-up: Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain)
Men’s Doubles
Winners: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (U.S)
Runners-up: Vasek Pospisil (Canada)/Jack Sock (U.S.)
Women’s Doubles
Winners: Sania Mirza (India)/Martina Hingis (Switzerland)
Runners-up: Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina (Russia)

Family Circle Cup, Charleston
Winner: Angelique Kerber (Germany)
Runner-up: Madison Keys (U.S.)
Women’s Doubles
Winners: Sania Mirza (India)/Martina Hingis (Switzerland)
Runners-up: Casey Dellacqua (Australia)/Darika Jurak (Croatia)

Australia win their fifth Cricket World Cup
Australia trounced New Zealand by seven wickets to win its fifth Cricket World Cup. The 2015 edition was the 11th edition of the most important championship in the world of cricket.
New Zealand made 183 in 45 overs. In response, Australia reached the target in just 34 overs with the loss of only 3 wickets in the final played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
India, winner of 2011 edition and the defending champion, crashed out after being outclassed in the semi-final by Australia. Sachin Tendulkar was the Brand Ambassador of the 2015 Cricket World Cup; this is the second time he was chosen to be the Ambassador, the first time being in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Player of the Series: Mitchell Starc (Australia)
Most runs: Martin Guptill (New Zealand; 547 runs)
Most wickets: Mitchell Starc (Australia; 22 wickets) and Trent Boult (New Zealand; 22 wickets)

Defending Champion Saina Nehwal (right) won the 2015 India Open Grand Prix Gold by defeating Spain's Carolina Marin 19-21, 25-23, 21-16 in the final. She became the first Indian woman shuttler to reach the finals of All England Open Badminton Championships but lost to Carolina Marin 21-16, 14-21, 7-21 in the final In the last week of March this year, Saina won her maiden women's singles title at the India Open BWF Super Series beating Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. By virtue of exceptional performances this year, Saina became the World No. 1 for a brief time this year. She is the first Indian woman and the second Indian shuttler (Prakash Padukone being the other) to become the World No. 1 in badminton.

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